In the 1980s "internetworking protocols" allowed us to link any two computers, and a vast network of networks called the Internet exploded around the globe. In the 1990s the "hypertext transfer protocol" allowed us to link any two documents, and a vast, online library-cum-shopping mall called the World Wide Web exploded across the Internet. Now, fast emerging "grid protocols" such as Globus might allow us to link almost anything else: databases, simulation and visualization tools, even the number-crunching power of the computers themselves. And we might soon find ourselves in the midst of the biggest explosion yet.

Grid computing promises to bring seamless and ubiquitous access to unfathomable computer power. Home and office machines will have the ability to reach into cyberspace, find resources wherever they may be, and assemble them on the fly into whatever applications are needed. Construction is already underway on dozens of distributed grid computers around the world, and industry heavyweights such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft are embracing--and investing in--important aspects of the Grid vision.

But the technology is still young. This SD Forum event will bring together Grid proponents and researchers to explain what's going on behind the scenes, both technologically and politically, to make Grid protocols the leading infrastructure for distributed high-performance computing and--perhaps--a new generation of profitable Web-based business services. They'll also survey Grid computing projects around the world, and examine the Grid's impact on science, engineering, and the industrial design process.

Dr. James H. Kaufman is a Research Staff Member in the Distributed & Cluster Systems Department at the IBM Almaden Research Center. Dr. Kaufman received a B.A. in Physics from Cornell University and a PhD in Physics from U.C.S.B. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Dr. Kaufman has made contributions to several fields of research at IBM. His current research interests include Distributed Computing and Grid Middleware.

Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch, Director of Grid Computing, Sun Microsystems

Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch is the director of Grid Computing for Sun Microsystems, Inc. He joined Sun in July 2000 with more than 25 years of experience in software development, computational engineering, computer architecture, project management, teaching and training.

Following his studies of mathematics and physics at RWTH Aachen, Germany, Dr. Gentzsch received his doctoral degree in numerical methods for nonlinear analysis and worked in software development at Max-Planck-Institute of Plasmaphysics in Garching, and Siemens KWU in Erlangen. Dr. Gentzsch has also worked for the German Agency for Aerospace and Aeronautics (DLR) in Gttingen, for which he served as head of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Supercomputing Department.

Bill Thigpen, Chief of the NAS Engineering Branch,NASA

Bill Thigpen is Engineering Branch Chief at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility (NAS) at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. The Engineering Branch is charged with meeting the NASA research community's current and future high-end computing needs, including building production systems based on the latest research in next-generation supercomputing capabilities and providing 24-hour support to NASA supercomputer users throughout the country. Thigpen is als one of the leaders of the effort to build and test NASA’s Information Power Grid (lPG), a network of high performance computers, data storage devices, scientific instruments, and advanced user interfaces based on the Globus grid computing protocols.

Wade Roush, Senior Editor, Technology Review

Wade Roush is a senior editor at Technology Review, representing the magazine on the West Coast from its San Francisco satellite office. He joined TR full-time in the fall of 2001 after an 11-year association with the magazine as a freelance feature writer and book reviewer.

Roush has a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College (1989) and a PhD in the history of technology from MIT (1994), but aimed throughout his academic training to become a science and technology journalist. From 1995 to 1997 he was the Boston bureau reporter/writer for the news department of the journal Science, covering Boston-area research news and becoming the magazine's first beat reporter in the area of developmental biology.

Since 1998 he has lived in the Bay Area, where he has freelanced; managed a public-affairs magazine at NASA's central supercomputing lab in Mountain View; and developed and managed a news- and community-based web site about electronic books and electronic publishing for NuvoMedia, a Silicon Valley maker of eBook reading devices.

Roush currently edits the Innovation section of Technology Review and helps to coordinate the magazine's information technology coverage. He enjoys writing and editing articles about information technology in general, and has special interests in mobile and ubiquitous computing, AI, robotics, usability/interface design, software engineering practices, new semiconductor devices and manufacturing techniques, the evolution of the Internet, and technological disasters.

Greg Astfalk, Chief Scientist, HP

Dr. Greg Astfalk is Chief Scientist at Hewlett-Packard, reporting to the CTO. In this capacity he is involved in almost all the technologies HP develops, including grid computing techniques.

Before assuming his current position he did scientific work in applied mathematics for HP. He also was with Convex Computer Corporation before it was acquired by HP. Between Convex and HP he has 10 years in the high-end computing industry.

Prior to Convex he was with AT&T Bell Labs doing numerical analysis for a very long time.